Renesas RZ/T2N puts motor control, Ethernet and Linux on one MPU
Image: Renesas
Renesas has introduced the RZ/T2N, a 64-bit microprocessor that integrates real-time motor control, industrial Ethernet networking and Linux-capable application processing on one chip. The company says this replaces configurations that have traditionally required multiple chips in equipment such as multi-axis servo drives and programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
The device pairs dual Arm Cortex-A55 cores, running at up to 1.2GHz, for application processing with two Cortex-R52 cores, running at up to 800MHz, for real-time control tasks. Each Cortex-R52 core has 576KB of tightly coupled memory (TCM) with ECC, which Renesas states minimises execution-time fluctuation for high-precision motor control.
Motor control and encoder support
The RZ/T2N integrates motor control peripherals for up to four axes, which Renesas says enables single-chip control of industrial robots such as SCARA and delta robots. It provides two encoder interface channels per axis, covering Tamagawa T-Format, HIPERFACE DSL, A-format, EnDat 2.2 and BiSS C, as well as the newer EnDat 3 and BiSS Line protocols.
Networking and security
Three Gigabit Ethernet MACs, an integrated Ethernet switch and an EtherCAT SubDevice Controller allow the chip to implement industrial Ethernet in both controller and device roles without external communication ICs, according to Renesas. Supported protocols include EtherCAT, PROFINET RT/IRT and EtherNet/IP, combined with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) for synchronised network communication. The device also supports redundancy protocols HSR, PRP and FRER, along with a cryptographic library, secure boot, secure firmware update and Arm TrustZone.
Renesas lists additional features including ECC protection across CPU TCM, cache, on-chip SRAM and DDR memory, support for 16-bit LPDDR4-1600 with on-the-fly encryption and decryption, and a common Linux package and Flexible Software Package shared across its RZ/T2x and RZ/N2x series. Verified sample programs for industrial Ethernet, encoder interfaces and multi-axis motor control are provided for use with Renesas evaluation boards. Functional safety software solutions, already proven on the RZ/T2x and RZ/N2x series, are planned for availability in the second half of 2027.
Renesas states the RZ/T2N and its evaluation board are available now, and plans to demonstrate the device at electronica 2026 in Munich from 10 to 13 November.
